


5 Times Herc saved his Son and One time his Son saved The World

by InsaneBlueGenius



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: 5 Times, Alligators & Crocodiles, Angst with a Happy Ending, Attempted Sexual Assault, Birthday, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Character Study, Chuck Hansen & Hermann Gottlieb friendship, Chuck Hansen & Mako Mori friendship, Chuck Hansen Lives, F/M, First Crush, Gen, Growing Up, M/M, POV Chuck Hansen, Panic Attacks, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Slow Build, Smart Chuck Hansen, Teen Angst, forceful flirtations
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-28
Updated: 2016-02-20
Packaged: 2017-12-24 22:39:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/945498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsaneBlueGenius/pseuds/InsaneBlueGenius
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five times Herc had to save Chuck, that time Chuck went and saved the world, and how he was saved after.<br/>or how Herc kept saving Chuck, even from himself sometimes, until Chuck grew up enough to have other people willing to save him when he tried to save the world.</p><p>(I also feel like I should mention that the Chuck/Others is pretty minor and just normal growing up and testing out relationships. Nothing gets terribly far for him until Raleigh)</p><p>Will add tags as I add chapters</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Crocodile

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Untitled Yancy Lives](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/26617) by Kaara (thirteenths). 



> This whole idea was based on this line: “if not for the whole Protective-Father-Who-Once-Wrestled-A-Crocodile thing and the fact that Raleigh’s completely smitten over him.” in [this drabble](http://thirteenths.tumblr.com/post/58681694871) by thirteenths ([Kaara](http://archiveofourown.org/users/kaara/pseuds/kaara))
> 
> What started as a regular 5 times fic has sort of grown. Especially when I started thinking about how Herc and Chuck's relationship really works... So it's not your normal 5 times fic, because sometimes you need to be saved from yourself.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chuck is eight years old, his father is his Hero and his mother is the sweetest person he knows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize if this doesn't sound anything like something that would work for Australia. I basically used Google and asked an Australian friend if it was too horribly farfetched.

Before the Kaiju ever happened, the Hansens were a pretty normal family. They spent time together most days, parents working and son in school. Herc had been in the Air Force then, so he wasn’t around as much as he wanted to be, but he felt like he was around enough and he was doing something good. He managed to take leave every once in awhile and so they managed a few family vacations.

It’s late November and Herc comes home, takes his shoes off at the door, and sees his son sitting in the den trying to build a better racetrack for his toy cars. Chuck is eight years old and for the last two months the den has been covered in bits of toy racing tracks and tiny toy cars. His son is obsessing over building the best racetrack possible as only a kid really can. From where Herc is watching from the doorway he can see that his son has taken over an entire corner of the room to dedicate to this project, the track looks like it’s getting more complicated every day.

Chuck is hunched over on the floor trying to prop up one of the curves somehow, completely distracted by his project when Herc steps forward to greet him and realizes he’s stepping on something. He lifts his foot and picks up the lego he just stepped on, it looks like Chuck has pulled them out to build things around his racetrack. He laughs a little and his son finally notices him. Chuck pries himself away from his project to hug his dad, grinning.

“Hey kid, I think you lost this.” Herc hands over the the lego he found closer to the doorway. “So what do you think about going on vacation soon? Willing to get away from your racetrack for a bit?” Chuck’s face lights up as he talks excitedly about getting to travel as he drops the lego near the racetrack and drags Herc into the kitchen towards where Angela is at the stove.

This is how they decide to go on vacation to Queensland, to maybe go on some river tours, see something further inland than where they live in Sydney.

\---

A month later finds the whole family on a boat coasting through a river. Herc’s got ahold of the camera and Chuck is sitting on Angela’s lap trying to get a better view over the edge of the boat. He’s insisting that he wants to keep the animals they’re seeing as pets. Herc snaps a picture as Angela grins down at him indulgently and ruffles his hair, “We can’t take the birds home with us, darling. They have to stay here with their families. You wouldn’t want one of us to be taken away by strangers, would you?”

Chuck looks a little terrified at that idea, “No…” then he’s suddenly scrambling for the edge of the boat and pointing while Angela desperately tries to hold on to him so he doesn’t go over the edge. “Look LOOK! It’s a platypus.” Herc can’t help himself, he’s laughing, the kid looks like he wants to jump in the water to get a closer look.

He snaps another picture then obligingly gets ahold of Chuck himself so Angela can stop looking panicked and they can both lean over.

They see a lot of animals on their boat ride, they see a lot of birds, get another look at a platypus further down the river, and quietly glide by a bask of crocodiles where Chuck watches wide-eyed and open-mouthed, finally staying safely inside the boat wedged between his parents. He makes a somewhat terrified squeak when a croc suddenly moves fast and grabs itself a bird to eat. Chuck has his mouth covered and Angela is looking slightly horrified and Herc can’t help but chuckle quietly at the both of them.

After the boat ride they head over to an area on the river that is for swimming. Angela seems worried that it’s not really safe there since it’s still the same river, but Chuck seems absolutely elated at the idea of swimming near the animals he’s been fascinated with for their whole trip.

Chuck runs right for the river. When he doesn’t hear the expected splashing, Herc looks over to see his son hesitating at the edge of the river, “Daddy, there aren’t any crocodiles here right?”

Angela looks a little hesitant but Herc has no problem answering, “No. They’re much further down the river, that’s why we’re allowed to swim here.” Then with a teasing grin, “But, maybe you’ll swim and find a platypus.” With that Chuck grins and runs into the river to swim with the other vacationers.

An hour later Angela is coming out of the river rolling her eyes and telling Herc he needs to get in there and get his son out, he doesn’t seem to want to listen. He’s laughing as he gets in the water to find him, it seems that in the short time his mother has left him alone he’s managed to wander further from the crowd of people. Herc finds him watching a bird that he’s managed to get close to. He’s about to call out to him when he notices the crocodile swimming quietly nearby.

It’s almost 5 meters long and he honestly can’t tell if it’s stalking Chuck, but he knows he wants his son far away from it. “Chuck.” He says softly, trying to get his attention, “Chuck. Come here.” He’s turning away from the bird finally to answer when he goes from grinning to wide-eyed and terrified, staring at the crocodile. “Chuck, I need you to come over to me. C’mon. Let’s go back to mom.”

The croc doesn’t seem to like the idea of anyone moving and is moving closer to them. The next thing Herc really registers is pulling Chuck behind him and pushing him back towards the crowd and the shore. Then he’s got his arms wrapped around the croc as it tries to roll him under. He doesn’t really think about his reactions, he just holds on and holds the croc’s jaw closed. When he gets it away from Chuck and off of him he punches it right on the nose. Soon, the croc is swimming away, hopefully deciding that there is much easier prey it can go after elsewhere.

There’s a crowd on the shoreline when he gets out of the water looking around to make sure his son is fine. As soon as Chuck notices him, he’s squirming out of his mother’s arms and running to throw his arms around him. Herc lifts him up and Chuck manages to wrap all of his limbs around him as he buries his tear-streaked face in his shoulder, “I love you, Daddy.” He’s still sniffling and clinging as Angela gets over to them to make sure they’re both alright.

The rest of their vacation is much less eventful, though the story of him wrestling a crocodile manages to make the papers. It even makes it back to base where his coworkers grin and tease him about it.

He keeps the newspaper clippings because it’s sort of funny. Besides it makes for a great intimidation factor, he might need that someday.

Later, he keeps them, now carefully held together and laminated so they won’t fall apart, in his room at the Shatterdome because it’s the last vacation their family ever managed to go on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Truth: The most badass thing I could think of for Herc to do was step on a lego unflinchingly. If you're wondering what that is about: that's about how Badass Herc Hansen really is.


	2. Scissure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chuck is almost ten when the Kaiju come out of the breach.

It’s right before his birthday that everything crumbles. Chuck was going to be ten that year and he was so excited. Finally a two digit number! Maybe his mother would stop babying him, having her wipe his face in front of the other boys at school was just embarrassing. Last week his father had come to the school and even reached to pick him up, he hated being reminded that he was small.

He was just waking up on a Sunday Morning when the news came through. At first Chuck had thought his parents had turned on one of those old monster movies, but he soon realized that was not the case. A monster had come out of the ocean and attacked San Francisco. They were trying to figure out how to stop it, but it had been a few hours and they still hadn’t even managed to slow it down. Chuck sat with his parents and watched the Television in horror. America was trying everything they could think of to stop it, tanks, planes, and missiles, anything they could throw at it. Nothing worked.

But Sydney is a big place and California is all the way across the Pacific Ocean, so everything kept moving. Chuck went to school on Monday like it was a normal week and Chuck hated it. Everyone was trying to pretend that everything was normal when it very obviously wasn’t. The teachers were trying to get through the lessons but they would huddle with each other outside of the classrooms to talk about what had just been on the news. The students weren’t much better, passing notes and whispering in the halls. Everyone was worried and trying to figure out where the monster had come from and barely paying attention to anything else.

Needless to say, everyone forgot about Chuck’s birthday. He turned ten without much excitement, he spent the evening in front of the television wedged between his parents watching the news as the Monster, now referred to as “Trespasser”, ravaged the coast of California. They were talking about how many people were dead and missing, how many people appeared to be suffering from some sort of poisoning due to exposure to the monster’s blood.

It was his father who tugged him away from the TV late in the evening, “We need to stop watching that or we’ll go crazy.” He picked Chuck up and carried him into the kitchen. Chuck didn’t even care that he was still small enough to be carried, that his dad was picking him up like he was still a baby. He hated that monsters were real and he knew that his father was strong, he could cling if he wanted to. After all, even the adults were afraid of the monster.

“Angela, come in here, will you? I think we’ve forgotten something.” Mom followed them into the kitchen, glancing back at the muted TV as she walked. Then she was smiling brilliantly at dad who was hovering behind him. Chuck tried to crane his neck back to look and couldn’t see anything until suddenly a small cake was being put in front of him. He tried for a smile at his dad’s “Don’t worry kid, we didn’t forget.” Dad had his hands on his shoulders.

Chuck remembers two things very clearly about his tenth birthday. He remembers his mother and father singing to him even as his mother was teary eyed. And he remembers desperately wishing for the monster to stop as be blew out his candles, please let them beat the monster.

A day later, they take out Trespasser and most of Oakland with it, but it’s dead. The Monster is dead, stopped, not attacking anyone else. Chuck is relieved that they stopped the monster, that maybe his birthday wish helped. They erect memorials in California and the news keeps talking about the fall out for months, but life sort of goes back to normal.

\---

By Chuck’s eleventh birthday two more monsters have attacked in the Philippines and Mexico and the world is a little better prepared. They’ve named them Kaiju and have established a worldwide emergency alert system. The news is constantly talking about them, how they came from a portal into another world, how wherever they’ve fallen they’ve left unliveable land in their wake, how people are sick and poisoned, how the Coast of the Pacific Ocean is now a dangerous place. Chuck knows that where they live is a danger zone but so far none of the Kaiju have come to Australia. The world is trying to keep moving and he keeps going to school. His dad is constantly busy, they have military on constant alert now that danger could come at any time, so he doesn’t get to see him as often anymore. He spends most of his time with his mother trying not to let her get too absorbed in the news.

\---

A month later a Kaiju attacks Sydney. They call it “Scissure.”

Chuck is in school when the alert goes off. The first nuclear strike hadn’t damaged Scissure enough to do more than slow it down and it’s getting too close to the city for the military to wait. They give them an hour to evacuate the city.

Chuck panics.

His mom is at work in one of the buildings downtown right in the path of the Kaiju. His dad is a pilot, so he’s probably somewhere on the coast fighting the Kaiju and Chuck has no idea what to do. He wants to get to his mother but all of the teachers are trying to get the kids out. There’s no cell service, no way to find parents, the best they can do is run and take all the kids with them. He’s still a small kid and doesn’t usually call much attention to himself in class, he’s also not the only one panicking, so the teachers run around him.

He’s outside of the school trying to figure out where to go when the Helicopter lands nearby. Suddenly he has hope, his father is suddenly next to him pulling him towards the Helicopter and people panic and flow around it. They manage to fit a few others into it before it takes off and rushes out of the blast zone over the panicking people below. They hear the alarms right before the blast goes off. Chuck is still panicked. He’s been staring out of the helicopter at the Kaiju completely wide-eyed since they got high enough in the air to see it. He doesn’t stop until Herc is grabbing his head to press his face into his chest; he just barely sees the bright flash of the nuke out of one corner of his closed eyes.

A few hours later finds him relatively safe on the ground further inland at the Air Force Base. He’s sitting in front of a large screen with some other family members of the military personnel that managed to make it to the base. He has a blanket wrapped tightly around him as he watches the screen. Everything near his school is _leveled_ , there is almost nothing left standing. If his dad hadn’t gotten there when he did, Chuck knows he would be dead.

He feels like time is moving strangely around him, he’s ignoring everything but the news. The next thing he notices is his father kneeling in front of him trying to get his attention. He’s asking him if he’s hungry, if they should go eat, when a tall formidable looking dark-skinned man comes over to them and gets his father’s attention.

Chuck zones out until he hears his father’s voice sounding upset, “Angela’s dead?” the other man is nodding slightly.

Chuck panics again, “Mom’s dead!?!” He’s freaking out, how can he live if his mother is gone? His father is always too busy, he _needs_ his mother there. How could his father have gotten to his school and yet nobody had gone to save his mother?

\---

Months later he sees that same man on TV talking about a new program to fight the Kaiju when they attack. His name is Pentecost and he’s a big name in the newly established Pan Pacific Defense Corps, but Chuck isn’t sure he’ll ever be able to look at him and not remember the moment he found out that his mother was gone.

He spends most of his time after the attack on Sydney with his father or his uncle Scott. And when the Kaiju, Karloff, attacks Canada and Brawler Yukon takes it down in record time with much less damage to everything around it, the PPDC’s Jaeger program gets off the ground.

Chuck’s not surprised when, not long after he turns twelve, both his father and his uncle enlist in the Jaeger academy. They’re going to be pilots that go after the Kaiju when they attack. Chuck kind of likes the idea behind it. He watches his dad while he’s in the academy, spending most of his time being passed around to various staff members along with the couple of other kids who have parents at the academy. He thinks he’ll join them when he’s old enough. He can’t think of anything he’d rather do that defeat the monsters that have ruined everything.

After all, it doesn’t matter how many Kaiju Herc manages to kill himself, he still couldn’t save Chuck’s mother. Chuck will never forgive him for that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love my beta [Poke](http://archiveofourown.org/users/pokechan) and I'm sorry I keep making her (and you readers) sad. I PROMISE THE ENDING WILL BE HAPPY. The story of a world falling apart is not a happy thing.  
> Working on chapter 3!


	3. Max

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chuck's teenage years are pretty lonely between being one of the oldest kids stuck in the Shatterdome and having a father that he barely sees or talks to.

It’s early 2017 now and Chuck kind of hates his life. He’s thirteen and he can remember when he thought being a teenager would be a huge milestone in his life. It’s not. Not now. Not in a world with Kaiju attacking every few months.

For most of the year he stays at one Shatterdome and goes to something like a school that they have setup for the kids that are around, the ones that have parents in the PPDC and nowhere else to go. He’s working on school but it’s all sorts of mismatched with scientists that have free time teaching biology and sometimes focusing on things that are more Kaiju or drift related than anything else. Chuck really doesn’t mind, he wants to be a Ranger so he needs to know this stuff anyway.

That’s what Herc is doing now, piloting a Jaeger with his uncle, being deployed all over the Pacific and ending up at all different Shatterdomes while Chuck stays at one. It’s not something that Chuck can really hold against him since it’s where Chuck intends to be as soon as he can get permission. He’s spent two years now surrounded by engineers, pilot candidates, and scientists constantly asking questions about what they’re doing. He constantly watches everything around him and reads anything he can get his hands on to learn more.

But with his mother gone he has no one. He hasn’t forgiven Herc for leaving her behind and he doesn’t want to talk to his uncle because his mother had always called him a troublemaker. He doesn’t want any trouble. How will he convince the PPDC to take him into The Academy early if he gets into trouble before he can even ask?

So he learns and barely talks to anyone around him his own age. Every other kid in school with him has parents who are doing something technical, nobody else is a Ranger’s kid and Chuck thinks it bothers them. Uncle Scott mentioned once that maybe they found it all intimidating, especially since Chuck was always talking about how he wanted to be a Ranger himself. Chuck goes back to his books with nobody to really talk to; sometimes he thinks the only thing keeping him going is wanting to be a Ranger.

\---

Chuck is almost fourteen and there is gossip all around the Shatterdome about the new Mark 3 pilots. It sounds like they are finally getting some younger pilots; there are two brothers who are going to get a Jaeger soon who are 21 and eighteen. Chuck is beyond ecstatic when he hears that the younger brother enlisted in the academy at seventeen. Suddenly he has hope, he won’t have to wait nearly as long as he thought he might to get into the academy, he bets he can get them to take him at sixteen.

He needs something to do, something that isn’t being alone and sitting around reading technical manuals and articles about Kaiju and the breach. He doesn’t even want to think about how much time he spends sitting in the lab near Dr. Gottlieb, watching him go over math equations one after another. The not entirely sane doctor had gone through the academy at the same time as Herc and Uncle Scott, just not as a Ranger. He was an occasional teacher at the Shatterdome’s “school” but most of the other kids just found him strange. Chuck liked him; he appreciated the quiet, was rarely emotional, and was always willing to explain what he was doing.

Chuck spent most of his fourteenth birthday on a chair in the corner of the lab listening to Dr. Gottlieb murmur to himself while he read about the new pilots on a tablet. His father and his uncle weren’t there (not that they really ever were). They were too busy moving around on a press tour since it was nearly the anniversary of K-day and the PPDC tended to use the day as a way to gain more support.

He didn’t think anyone had remembered until after he had dinner in the canteen. He had spent it sitting at the “kiddie table” with the rest of the kids who didn’t have parents to sit with and none of them seemed to be paying any attention to him. Most of them were younger than him anyway, he didn’t really expect any of them to think of it.

It wasn’t until he was almost to his room after dinner and heard the clacking of Dr. Gottlieb’s cane behind him that he remembered that he wasn’t always alone. He turned around to see Hermann hobbling towards him carrying a small box. “Goodness my boy, do slow down for a minute, I don’t want to drop this.” He caught up to Chuck and followed him into his room, refusing to let him carry the box until the door was closed behind them. “Now, don’t think too hard about this, but it’s not right for someone your age to miss out on a proper birthday. Especially in times like these.” With that he gently pushed the box into Chuck’s hands. The box smelled kind of sweet when he opened it and saw an oversized chocolate cupcake.

He spends a few minutes trying to get Hermann to split it with him, but he refuses to take back part of his surprise. He gets out a “Happy Birthday, Chuck” and pats him on the shoulder a bit awkwardly before leaving him alone.

At least somebody remembered. He hasn’t heard from his dad in almost two weeks, but he’s seen him on TV since then, so that’s something. He tries not to admit to himself that he would have at least appreciated _something_ on his birthday, even just a call. There hasn’t been another attack, his dad could have taken some time to make a call. Instead the weirdest guy that Chuck has ever met is the only person to remember. He eats his cupcake and gets ready for bed, then settles down to read until he falls asleep.

\---

Chuck spends the next week reading interviews with the new Mark 3 pilots because he is beyond curious. What kind of person did they let into the Jaeger Academy at only 17? He has to know because he wants to get in even sooner than that. If he has to wait three more years to be useful he’ll go insane.

The first time he finds an interview with the Becket brothers he can’t stop looking at Raleigh Becket’s photograph. He’s smiling with his shoulder pressed up against his brother Yancy’s side with their new Jaeger, Gipsy Danger, behind them. Chuck knows that he should be looking at Gipsy to see what new things they’ve put into her, but he’s looking at Raleigh’s grin instead. That’s the first time Chuck really feels attraction. He’d been so distracted by the Kaiju and Jaegers and learning everything that he could that he’d forgotten that most people his age are looking for significant others (or at least people to get off with).

Herc makes it back to Hong Kong and manages to stop and talk to him a few times before he leaves again. He gets wished a late Happy Birthday and a promise from Herc that a great present is forthcoming. Chuck rolls his eyes at that, he won’t hold his breath.

It’s October when Gipsy is finally deployed against its first Kaiju, Yamarashi, and Chuck finds himself glued to the Television watching the attack. It’s a two Jaeger drop and Yamarashi is the biggest Kaiju to come out of the breach yet. The other Jaeger’s not even slowing it down and it’s Gipsy that ends up drawing it away and beheading it. Chuck is beyond impressed, that’s where he wants to be in a few years and if Jaegertech keeps getting better he can only imagine how impressive he will be.

He keeps watching since he knows that the reporters will go for the Rangers soon for a response. Yancy and Raleigh look excited, it’s their first Kaiju kill and Raleigh bounces on his toes on the TV while he answers questions from the reporters and grins at the cameras. He’s eighteen and Chuck is completely enamored. He ignores Yancy, who is standing calmly beside his brother and only occasionally interjecting, until Yancy is dragging his brother away. Raleigh grins and winks at the camera as he is dragged away. Well… after that, Raleigh is the star of all of Chuck’s nighttime fantasies.

It’s December when Chuck first hears the term “Jaeger Fly”. Maybe it’s because everyone still groups him in with the kids that he’s never really heard it before. Or maybe the other Rangers are just better at resisting them than his uncle.

“Damnit, Scott, I told you to stay away from those Jaeger flies. Who knows where they’ve been and where they’ll drag you.” Herc has his arm around his brother’s waist to keep him upright as he drags him down the hallway and back to his room.

Uncle Scott just laughs drunkenly, “Aw Hell, Herc. Live a little. We could die any time, might as well take advantage of the perks and have some fun.” He stumbles and almost knocks Herc into the wall, “She kept buying me drinks and damn she gave one hell of a gobby. Why the hell would I say no?”

Herc gets Scott’s door open, they haven’t noticed Chuck listening yet, “One day, you’re going to say yes to the wrong person and get yourself in trouble.”

Herc’s shoving Scott onto the bed and getting his shoes off when he replies, “Mate, you’re probably the only Ranger out there who says no and isn’t married. We only get a few, but imagine the flies that are crawling all over those younger Rangers. What I wouldn’t do to be them, eh? Might improve your mood a little to take advantage.”

It’s this part that ends up sticking in Chuck’s mind. He might not be out of the Shatterdome much, but he’s aware of what people do. He’s fourteen and regularly without any sort of adult supervision, he knows how many ways people can get naked together. He’s just never realized that there are groupies that want to be with Rangers, specifically. His uncle even called it a ‘perk’, as if they were everywhere. He gets that his dad isn’t over his mom yet, so at least that part of the conversation makes sense, but he’s never thought about what the pilots who aren’t in relationships with each other really do. Realizing that Jaeger flies are a things is somewhere between confusing and sort of gross. He might be biased because of how he always saw his parents together, but he doesn’t really understand why someone would want that, someone who doesn’t even talk to them and just wants them because they’re a Ranger. He can’t really imagine wanting to be in such a shallow relationship, he even likes Raleigh Becket mostly because of his grin.

But now that’s sort of… ruined. Every time there’s a vid clip of the Beckets and he sees fans around them, every time there’s photos in the paper and Raleigh is surrounded by fans on the streets or in a bar, Chuck can’t help the awful sour feeling he gets in his stomach. He doesn’t want to think about whether or not any of those fans are “Jaeger flies” or whether or not Raleigh is doing more that being friendly and posing for pictures. He stops trying to think of anything at all regarding the Beckets that isn’t related to their Jaeger and piloting abilities and gets back to his studies.

He gets himself into an awful funk trying not to think about it. Herc had caught on to him before his mood plummeted and realized that he was keeping track of the Becket brothers, so he tends to leave news articles and little tidbits of not-quite classified information around when he has it. Chuck had looked forward to it before, now he doesn’t. Well, the bits about Gipsy Danger are still interesting, but he tries to only skim over anything about the Beckets themselves.

Not long before Christmas Herc tells him that he and Uncle Scott are being moved to the Sydney Shatterdome, so Chuck can leave Hong Kong and go home to Australia if he wants to finish school more normally. Herc seems to think that going back to a normal school might help him get out of his funk and back to normal. Herc looks hopeful, like maybe they can pretend their lives are normal by going back to the same city they lost his mother in, Herc must be insane. Chuck ends up agreeing anyway, at least it will be a change of scenery.

The Sydney Shatterdome is newer than Hong Kong, it has a similar setup and Chuck knows that he’ll still be spending most of his time around the tech crews. He’s trying not to get stuck in memories of Scissure’s attack, they’d flown into the Shatterdome and he’d had a perfect view of where the second nuclear missile had detonated. The memories are distracting him from getting settled into his room when his father knocks on the open door.

He turns around and can still hear some sort of soft shuffling noise, even though his father isn’t moving. “Hey kid, remember how I promised you on your birthday that I had a great present in the works?”

Chuck tries not to roll his eyes when he responds, “Yeah, I remember. Notice how it’s now almost Christmas?”

Herc laughs it off with a grin that makes Chuck feel wary, “Well it took me awhile to get permission, and it was conditional on him being properly trained.”

“What?” Now Chuck is actually concerned, what the hell is Herc talking about? “Trained?”

“Yep.” He walks into the room and Chuck hears a soft whine from outside the door before his dad stops it with a “C’mere Max.” and a tiny wrinkly bulldog pup trips its way into his room. Chuck isn’t sure what his face looks like but his dad is grinning at him now. “I figured since I hardly ever get any time with you, I’d find you someone who could be with you all the time.”

Max sniffs at Chuck’s boots and then plops his butt on the floor to look up at him, he’s all wrinkles. He’s wagging his stub of a tail on the floor and staring up at Chuck, who feels frozen. He’s not actually sure how his dad even came up with this idea, but Max whines softly and scooches closer on his butt and Chuck is in love. He scoops the pup up into his arms where it flails until it can get at his face to lick him. Chuck laughs, “Thanks, Dad. I… thanks.”

Herc steps forward to scratch at Max’s head, “He’s been fully trained, that’s why it took so long. He’ll have to get used to the Shatterdome, but he seems pretty good around people. So, he’s all yours.” Herc drags a box of stuff in from the hallway and puts in next to the bed, there’s a small book on top about training and Chuck intends to read it cover to cover. He won’t have Max taken away for misbehaving.

He gets out of his funk, he keeps going through school and asking questions of anyone that might answer him. Sometimes the engineers even let him help with minor tasks. Max is his constant companion, he gets used to the noise of the Shatterdome and crowds of people fast and he knows how not to get in anyone’s way.

His father may have finally done something right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there goes the beginning of Chuck's teenage years. And here you get Hermann being a kind of good guy and finally Max as a puppy. 
> 
> FYI this is how I picture tiny Max:  
> 


	4. Getting in a Jaeger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chuck's main goal in life is to get himself into the Jaeger program where he can help destroy the monsters that are tearing the world apart. He's going to do it and nothing is going to hold him back.

Chuck is back in school in Australia and it’s very _very_ weird. At least he started in January and didn’t have to come in mid-year where it would be even stranger. He spends his days in school and his evenings in the Shatterdome doing homework and finding new techs he can bother for answers to his endless questions. He still doesn’t see Herc much, but by now he’s used to it. Instead he has Max who follows him around on his quickly growing paws. Max who has gotten very good at keeping himself out of the way when techs and Rangers are trying to do things in the Shatterdome.

Chuck has tucked himself in a corner of the main bay of the Shatterdome to read with Max when he hears someone calling his name. He really doesn’t want to be interrupted, he’s found a comfortable spot and Max is keeping his legs nice and warm. He tries to ignore whoever is calling him so he can read, he figures that if it’s important he can always pretend he didn’t hear them over the noise of the bay. He managed another few minutes until a nearby tech pauses in his work and yells for him and it becomes unavoidable.

It turns out it was Herc calling for him. Stacker and a girl who looks a bit younger than Chuck is with them. Herc introduces her as Mako, she’s thirteen and was recently adopted by Pentecost. Herc wants Chuck to show her around and keep an eye on her while he and Pentecost are in a meeting. He figures she can’t be that bad if Stacker decided to adopt her, besides it will be nice to talk to someone closer to his own age, even if she’s younger. Plus the first thing she did after saying hello was pet Max.

It turns out that she’s the girl made famous in Japan for surviving Onibaba’s attack, she was there in the middle of the battle when Stacker fought his last Kaiju. She climbs into his corner with him and talks to him about it and he tells her what he can remember about the attack on Sydney. It’s the first time he’s talked about the attack that killed his mother with anyone and it’s actually weirdly nice. It’s kind of nice to have a friend other than Max.

Mako stays for three weeks while Pentecost is jumping from meeting to meeting and apparently trying to figure out where the new Mark-3 pilots are going to be stationed and what sort of changes they need to make for the Mark-4 Jaegers. This means Chuck has two shadows, Max and Mako follow him through the Shatterdome whenever he’s not in school. Mako is reading through Chuck’s books while he’s in class all day and it’s nice. He has someone he can talk to who isn’t in J-Tech or J-Science and it means that they can discuss all sorts of ideas. Mako likes to talk about Jaegers running on different kinds of energy and how best to design a blade to keep from poisoning wherever the Kaiju falls. When she leaves, she pets Max, bows, and promises to keep in touch.

It’s after Mako leaves that Chuck really thinks about how most boys his age are starting to think about girls. He doesn’t see Mako like that, and really hasn’t felt anything like that since his fantasies about Raleigh Becket. He wonders if it will ever come up or if he’ll end up spending all of his time around Jaegers.

\---

Mako really does keep in touch. They exchange emails about every Jaeger battle that happens, they talk about ways to do it better and Mako talks about things she wants to see added to Jaegers. Chuck talks about piloting techniques and they both share tidbits of information they pick up from the rangers and techs around them.

Chuck tries not to think too hard about Raleigh Becket’s grin whenever they talk about fights that Gipsy is a part of – he can’t always help it and sometimes those conversations still lead to interesting nighttime fantasies – but the Becket brothers really do fight well. Mako thinks they’re sloppy during battle but Chuck is fascinated by how fast they seem to make decisions. He can only imagine how the drift might be between them.

Mako tells him about her stay at the Los Angeles Shatterdome, and about a ridiculous sounding but apparently brilliant man in the K-Science division named Dr. Newton Geiszler (“Chuck, he insists on being called ‘Newt’. How am I to properly show respect to a Doctor who keeps insisting I call him a Lizard?). Sometimes Chuck thinks those are his favorite messages.

Chuck turns fifteen and his dad and his uncle both manage to be there. His dad takes him out to dinner outside of the Shatterdome, he’s a Ranger and fairly well known so they end up in a pretty nice place. It’s more awkward than it should be and less awkward than Chuck thought it would be when his dad first told him that he was taking him out. It’s quiet and almost tense until a group of ladies recognize his dad and fall all over themselves trying to get his attention. Seeing his dad desperately fending off flirtatious women is a memory Chuck plans to cherish for a very long time.

The flirtatious women lighten the mood over dinner and it’s nice. They talk about Chuck’s studies and his dad seems surprised by how much he knows about Jaegertech and K-Science. “I’ll need to know everything there is to get through the academy, old man. Of course I read about everything new.” He’s rolling his eyes, but his dad seems worried.

“So you still want to be a ranger?”

“That’s the plan. The sooner, the better. I hear that they’re letting people enlist earlier now. Do you think they’ll let me in this year?” He’s mostly messing with his dad when he asks. His voice has stopped cracking and he’s grown a lot taller, but it still feels like he needs to hunt down new clothes every couple of months.

His dad is frowning, but he pulls himself out of it quickly, “I think you need to stop growing first. What are they going to do if they keep having to refit your suit?” Chuck just grins at him and finishes his dinner.

The lighter mood manages to last until they make it back to the Shatterdome. They’re heading back to their rooms when they run into Uncle Scott. “Hey kid, happy birthday.” He slurs as he tries to ruffle Chuck’s barely there hair. “Had a couple drinks in your honor since you’re still not old enough. Found a nice girl too and-” Chuck doesn’t get to see the entire hand gesture that his uncle makes because his dad blocks his view and cuts him off. Chuck is glad because he _really_ doesn’t want to know. He will never understand how his uncle works and he’s glad for it. He gets two goodnights, one trying for lighthearted and the other slurred. He goes back to his room where Max is curled up on his bed waiting and finds an article about the new Chinese Jaeger that is about to launch. It’s supposed to be piloted by triplets and Chuck can’t wait to see it in action.

The next day there is a package from Mako waiting for him after school. There is a letter, a book, and a small jar with some sort of bone in it. He opens the letter first.

> Chuck,
> 
> I hope that this reaches you in time for your birthday, I will probably have spoken to you in between sending this and when you read this and you should be aware of how hard it was not to say anything.
> 
> The book is about Sherlock Holmes, I think that you will like it. You spend all of your time reading about Jaegers and Kaiju, you should also read a little bit for fun. Newt (I still can’t believe he wants to go by this name) has been giving me books and manga to read and I must admit that reading for fun is a nice break to be able to take.
> 
> The jar contains a piece of one of Scissure’s claws. I got it from Newt (the Doctor has Kaiju body parts all over his lab) who also gave me a piece of Onibaba’s tooth. I debated on whether or not I should send it, but having a piece of Onibaba to look at reminds me to keep going. To keep studying and learning. It reminds me of all of the reasons I want to keep fighting. I thought a piece of Scissure might do the same for you.
> 
> We’re in Hong Kong for the launch of Crimson Typhoon and will be there until after your birthday. Contact me after you get this so we can talk about this new Jaeger with three arms.
> 
> Happy Birthday.           
> 
> -Mako

He ends up spending the next hour holding the jar and staring at it. When he manages to put it down he sends a message to Mako and picks up the book she sent. It looks like it has several shorter stories in it, so he decides to read a little while he waits. She calls him back within the hour. He thanks her for his presents and they talk a little about the book and about Crimson Typhoon. It’s nice to have a friend, even if they almost never see each other in person.

Pentecost is heading up the Jaeger program now, this means that Mako is there for the launch of every Jaeger. She loves it, Chuck doesn’t know if he’d want to have to move around that much again. It’s nice to be in the same place for awhile. Besides, with Mako seeing each one and calling him every time, it’s like he gets all the benefits without the travel. He’s glad he has new Jaegers and calls to look forward too, because Uncle Scott seems to be driving Herc to distraction. They manage to pull it together and drift every time they’re deployed but they don’t speak much outside of the drift. He’s not sure how that works, but it does.

\---

Chuck turns sixteen and spends the day with Max, barely talking to anyone. His life has gotten weird in the past few weeks. The tension between Herc and Scott finally came to a head during a battle with a Kaiju. Lucky Seven is wrecked completely, but they both manage to make it out, beat up but alive. They’re going to need a new Jaeger if they’re going to keep fighting, but with Scott’s recent behavior the PPDC doesn’t really like that idea.

On top of that there’s a seventeen year old American tech named Jessica who keeps flirting with him and Chuck isn’t sure how to handle it. She seems nice, and it was nice at first to have someone who just went through academy training to talk to, but when she started leaning into his space and touching his leg it got weird. Especially since hours before that he had seen her flirting with one of the techs that Chuck had long ago realized there was no point getting to know (Jason was nice, and always helpful, but he was better at following directions than anything else and could never answer Chuck’s questions) even though there was a rumor that she was dating a different one. Chuck wanted no part of that.

At least Max seemed willing to defend his honor, he situated himself right in between them and insisted on being scratched until Chuck managed to find a way to escape. He wonders, as he sits reading in a corner that he’s never seen anyone else near, if Jessica had realized he was only fifteen at the time. He knows he’s tall and he’s trying to keep in good shape, but he didn’t think he looked old enough to attract a girl who was older than him.

It’s a few weeks after his birthday that he thinks to try for the academy. He knows they’ve been accepting seventeen year olds for a while now, maybe he can convince them to take someone even younger somehow. There’s no harm in trying.

He’s surprised, weeks later, when he actually gets notice of his acceptance. He’ll have to leave Max behind when he goes to Alaska, but it’ll be worth it. He knows it will. Besides, the whole Shatterdome knows Max by now, they’ll probably spoil him rotten while Chuck is gone.

They’re finishing Striker Eureka as Chuck is getting ready to go to Alaska and she is the most gorgeous piece of machinery that Chuck has ever seen. He’s already jealous of the rangers that will get her. She’s the first Mark-5 and Chuck and Mako have been sending messages back and forth for weeks now. Mako is in school now while Pentecost teaches at the academy, so she hasn’t gotten to see Striker in person yet. For once their roles are reversed.

Chuck gets to Alaska just in time to see how Americans handle Halloween. He decided then and there that they’re sort of insane. The Becket brothers are stationed at the Anchorage Shatterdome now and Chuck is trying really hard not to think about how close that is, until he sees Yancy and Raleigh Becket in person when they’re welcomed to the program. Apparently since they’re nearby, sometimes they teach lessons. Chuck is not looking forward to any sort of awkward that might come from that.

Less than two weeks later, Striker Eureka is officially launched and Chuck gets a call from Herc. He and Scott are going to be her pilots and Chuck wants to throw the vidscreen against the wall. Herc looks exhausted but excited, the last fracture from when Lucky Seven went down is almost healed and Chuck is angry. He can’t believe that they’re letting Herc and Scott anywhere near Striker after what happened, but it looks like Australia wanted to keep Aussies in their Jaeger.

It’s mid-December when Striker finally sees action. She’s in a three Jaeger drop in Manila, the Kaiju gets past Horizon Brave before Striker and Gipsy take it down together. Chuck burns with jealousy. He doesn’t know if he’s jealous because he’s not in Striker or if it’s because he’s not the one fighting alongside the Beckets. He was sure he was over this stupid crush, so it must be about Striker.

His dad breaks his habit and Chuck is worried. For as long as his dad has been a ranger, he has sent a message to Chuck after every battle to let him know he was fine. After Manila, Chuck doesn’t get a message. He tries to brush it off and focus on his studies, his dad probably doesn’t want to distract him from his lessons. He’s in week 7 of officer training and he’s got the top score in every category. He doesn’t have a potential copilot yet (maybe years of practicing in the Kwoon with Rangers and others who’d been through the program is throwing off his compatibility), but he has no doubt he’ll find someone. He has to.

He finishes Officer training and finally gets a message from his dad. Uncle Scott has been dismissed from the Jaeger program. Access revoked, no benefits, completely out of the program. The message from his dad doesn’t have any details, but apparently he saw something in the drift that was unconscionable and he had to report it. Whatever it was, it was bad enough to cut Uncle Scott out entirely.

He has a short break until Pons training begins and he starts having to share his mind with people until he finds a copilot. He has been somewhat social so he uses the break to go out a little. That’s when he suddenly understands what his dad and uncle were talking about that night they mentioned Jaeger Flies. There’s a pub near the academy with decent food where almost all of the candidates go when there’s anything like down time. He’s been there a few times to eat and socialize a little, there are some candidates he likes enough to spend time with. He hadn’t really paid any attention before, but realizes on his break that he always sees the same couple of girls and guys there all the time, always flirting with different candidates and sometimes with visiting Rangers. He’s seen the ‘flies’ go off with them multiple times. Chuck has every intention of staying away from that entirely. Luckily, he’s young enough that they don’t glance at him twice.

There’s a candidate a few years older than him name Derek who he gets along with, he’s 80% sure that some of their conversation could be read as flirtatious. Derek is nice, really attractive, and quietly sarcastic. They spend downtime together and they’ve gotten into the habit of sharing articles with each other whenever the read something interesting. They’re eventually in line to see if they are drift compatible and Chuck really hopes they are, he’d like to spend more time with Derek. He’s one of the only candidates who can just sit quietly and read for a while and doesn't feel the need to start a conversation.

A week later, Chuck has been through eight potential matches and none of them are drift compatible. Six of them couldn’t even sync with him, the other two barely lasted a minute before falling out of sync. Chuck is frustrated, he wants to be a Ranger and he won’t accept anything else. The night after the eighth attempt he’s sitting with Derek going over the other aspects of Pons training. Derek hasn’t managed to sync with anyone for more than a few seconds yet, so they’re both frustrated. Derek leans into him with a small smile on his face after Chuck’s frustrated ramblings taper off, “Hey, tomorrow we’re supposed to drift. Maybe we’ve just been waiting for that.” They talk and they laugh a little, somehow Chuck starts telling stories about Max and how everyone at the Australian Shatterdome just moves around him now. They’re about to split up and go to their rooms when Chuck realizes exactly how close they’ve been sitting. He’s pretty sure this is more than friendly, that they’ve been flirting this whole time. Derek glances down at his lips and Chuck is sure that he’s about to get his first kiss.

He doesn’t.

Well, not exactly. Derek wraps an arm around him and his eyebrows go from confused to surprised to awkward before he’s brushing a kiss across his cheek and wishing him a good night.

It’s not until they drift the next day and Derek chases the RABIT that Chuck realizes exactly why nothing will ever happen there, Derek’s relationship history is bad enough to haunt him in the drift. They try a few times, because their neural handshake is very strong, but Derek can’t pull himself out of his memories, he chases the RABIT every time.

It’s been almost two weeks of Pons Training and Chuck still doesn’t have a copilot. He knows that if he doesn’t match with somebody then there’s no way he can be a Ranger. He won’t go on to stage three, that’s unacceptable. Chuck is fine in the drift, he’s been reading theories about it since it started and he knows how to control his own thoughts, it’s everyone else that doesn’t mesh well and Chuck _hates_ that it’s other people holding him back. He’s finishing up with the epic failure that is his last candidate (A ridiculous blond named Jim who keeps insisting that he needs to try and drift with some dark haired guy who isn’t on his list) when someone comes in and tells him he has a message from Herc.

Except it’s not a message at all. Herc is there on Kodiak Island and Chuck can only feel like he’s being judged. He scowls as he walks towards his dad and doesn’t soften until he sees Max sitting at Herc’s feet. His dad claps a hand on his shoulder and Chuck nods stiffly at him before kneeling down to pet Max who is sitting but squirming and wagging his stub of a tail. He can’t believe how much he’s missed his dog. Max whines a little and when Chuck shifts to kneel entirely he does his best to climb into his lap. Herc snorts out a laugh and then before they can actually talk about anything, Pentecost appears behind him.

He nods with a quick, “Ranger Hansen, Chuck, follow me.” They’re walking down the hall back towards the Pons testing rooms as Pentecost explains. “Chuck, since your uncle is no longer with us Striker Eureka is down one pilot. Ranger Hansen cannot pilot a Jaeger alone and you have yet to find anyone with enough drift compatibility to pilot with you.” They all have to dodge a group coming out of one of the side rooms “Since your testing scores are all very good and family is often drift compatible we want to test you with your father and then hopefully we can place you with him in Striker Eureka.”

Chuck is stunned. He’s going to pilot the most beautiful machine he’s ever seen. If the only thing between him and Striker is getting along with his dad, well… He’ll make it work. “Alright then. Let’s try it.”

They do make it work. It’s weird at first to share memories of his mother where they’re coming from two very different perspectives, but neither one of them chases the RABIT. Herc has been at this too long to make those sorts of mistakes and Chuck has known for a long time that he’d need to control his thoughts if he was going to get in a Jaeger with anyone. They are drift compatible.

He’s right at the end of Pons training when Gipsy goes down on the coast of Anchorage. They say that Knifehead ripped Yancy right out of the Conn-Pod during the fight. Raleigh Becket piloted Gipsy back to the coast on his own and survived, he’s recovering at the Anchorage Shatterdome and suddenly Chuck’s crush is back. He’s keeping track of Raleigh’s progress as he finishes training. He finds himself wishing he’d been done already so Striker could have been out there with Gipsy. He wishes he could have helped, maybe saved Yancy. Chuck has had enough people in his head drifting over the last few weeks to know what it’s like. He can’t imagine what it would feel like to have his Dad ripped out of his head.

Herc stays around for the rest of his stay at the academy, he even teaches a couple of lessons between everything he has to do with Chuck. The first time he puts on the drivesuit and can feel things through more than his own nerves is the strangest feeling he’s ever had. He adjusts quickly, he can move almost as well in a Conn-Pod as he can in the Kwoon. Soon enough they’re getting into Striker together to take her for a test drive and it’s perfect. Chuck is sixteen and he is exactly where he wants to be.

He graduates in April and Raleigh Becket drops off the face of the Earth. The rumor is that he just couldn’t handle being without his brother and he refused to be a part of the program anymore. He’s gone and Chuck can’t believe he ever looked up to him. He can’t believe anyone would abandon the world when the only thing Chuck has been able to think about for years is saving it.

He’s distracted when one of the more ridiculous techs insists that with a new piloting team, they need to finally give Striker a logo. Tony is a weapons specialist with an awful sense of humor, but Chuck definitely likes him most of the time. Somehow he gets ahold of a drawing that one of the Engineers (Steve who likes to draw and can never resist a look from Max) drew of Max with a missile in his mouth. Striker has a new logo and neither Herc nor Chuck can deny that they like it.

They take down their first Kaiju a month later in China. Chuck loves being in a Jaeger, and loves the fact that he feels like he can punch a Kaiju right in the mouth. It’s after the battle, after he’s gone through medical where they check him over very thoroughly, when he’s sitting in his room coming down from the adrenaline high and rolling around a small glass jar that he’s had since his fifteenth birthday that he realizes what his dad has done for him. He just got to punch a Kaiju repeatedly and then blow it to pieces. For that gift, he could almost forgive his dad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think my sense of humor got a little weird in this chapter.  
> And Yes, those are weird little cameos from other fandoms. Because it's always easier for me to use characters I'm familiar with rather than make people up.  
> In case you didn't catch them all and you're curious here they are in order:  
> Jessica the flirty American Tech is Jessica Hamby from True Blood  
> Jason the the helpful but not so smart tech is Jason Stackhouse from True Blood  
> Derek the Jaeger Trainee is Derek Hale from Teen Wolf (fans will guess what sort of memories he's chasing. But I couldn't help but think they'd get along if they met)  
> Jim who tried drifting is Jim Kirk from Star Trek (The dark haired man he wants to drift with is totally Spock, and the program think they're completely incompatible)  
> Tony the Weapons Specialist is Tony Stark (Iron Man)  
> Steve the artistic engineer is Steve Rogers (Captain America)


	5. Creepers creeping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chuck thinks he's definitely old enough to handle other people by seventeen? Dating can't be that hard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry Sorry Sorry guys OTL I know it's been forever since there's been a new chapter. 10 months? Ugh. I got busy and then stuck with how I needed this to work but here you are. You now have your 5 times.  
> I added a tag for attempted sexual assault for this chapter, but it's not really too bad, I promise. It's more one of Chuck's dates getting too pushy than outright assault. Nothing goes too far, but I'd rather tag for it to be safe.  
> Next up will be movie timeline so hopefully it won't take me too long. I'm due for another rewatch anyway.

By the time Chuck turns seventeen, he is famous and it’s the weirdest feeling he has ever had. He’s so used to being the quiet kid who only talks to engineers and the occasional weird scientist that he’s not entirely sure how to handle it at first. When the PPDC tries to get him to go out and talk to the press and do photo ops he sort of freaks out a little, luckily his dad has convinced them that sixteen is really too  young to be out there being harassed by reporters. Herc handles the questions thrown at them after battles and tells Chuck to just stand there and look pretty in the background. Chuck only answers the questions he can’t avoid when they’re shoved in his face.

He’s hiding out in the lab with Hermann the day before his birthday watching him pull together all of the information they have on the rift. The PPDC wants to try dropping a bomb through it, but first they need to know how it works. Hermann is talking aloud to himself while Chuck reads with Max curled up by his feet and it takes him a moment to realize that Hermann has stopped talking about maths and is talking to Chuck now.

“-going to have to go out there soon. You’re going to be seventeen and everyone wants to talk to the youngest Jaeger pilot. Everyone wants to learn more about you.” He rambles as he finishes setting up a digital display.

Chuck marks his place in his book and sighs, “I know Dr. Gottlieb, I know. I’ve seen the websites... and the photos people sneak of me. The last time I went out just to get dinner with dad a group of Uni girls stopped us and kept trying to flirt with me.”

Hermann pauses to look up, “You’re a sixteen going on seventeen year old boy and attention from girls bothers you?”

Chuck just stared at him silently for a minute, “I’m not interested in people who are only interested in me because I’m a Ranger. I saw how jaeger flies worked when I was at the academy. ‘Sides, the way people talk about me on TV is kind of creepy, especially since I’m not even legal yet in half of the countries that gossip. There’s an American site with a countdown clock for my eighteenth birthday. There’s something wrong with that place.”

Someone laughed from the doorway.

“I’ve met some of the American pilots, that place is definitely a bit strange.” Herc was smirking at him, “You know, the press outside was asking if we have plans for your birthday? They’re a little obsessed I think.” Herc comes over to rub between Max’s ears “Don’t worry, I didn’t tell them anything, I know we’re just staying in tonight. The techs are all excited for cake because the PPDC won’t say no to treating their star to a good cake even when we’re mostly on rations.”

Chuck rolls his eyes, “Yeah, they’re all in it for the cake. I know the score. Is there any way I can ban them from cake if they show me pictures of their eligible family members?”

Herc snorts out a laugh, “No, I don’t think that’ll make ‘em stop anyway. Cost of being famous I guess.” He stands up, “Try not to be late to your own party. Pretty sure there was a package for you in today’s mail, it’s in your room.” Chuck tries not to look too interested.

Hermann is back to scribbling out his maths on the board behind where Chuck is reading so he gets up to head to his room. He wonders who actually sent him a package since in order for it to get through security it had to come from someone involved in the PPDC, it’s not like they let fanmail through since the inappropriate gifts that started getting sent to Rangers back when it was all Mark 2s.

He gets back to his room and there’s a package on his bed, there’s two pieces of metal in the box with a letter on top. One of the pieces is dark in color and heavy and the other is very light and coated in white, it seems vaguely familiar. The handwriting on the letter is Mako’s, she always sends the most interesting gifts even if they barely ever get a chance to talk now. The letter isn’t that long:

> _Ranger_ Chuck,
> 
> It has been too long since we have spoken in real time. First, let me wish you a happy birthday, I hope this gets to you in good time, I know that transportation across any ocean is hardly reliable these days. I’ve been watching your battles and you’re doing very well, Striker is an amazing Jaeger, I hope to see it in person one day. I hope your anxiety over the press after battles is getting better. I know how much they bother you.
> 
> I’ve been accepted to the academy to start in the fall, so soon it may be even harder to keep in touch. I suppose it is a part of growing up to become busier. I do not know if Sensei will even let me near a cockpit, but I still plan to learn as much as I possibly can. I’m sure if there is enough need, even he will not be able to stop me.
> 
> The metal in this box is from Gipsy Danger, I know that before Striker stole your heart she was your favorite. I was there when they retired her to Oblivion Bay and I thought it only right to get ahold of a piece for you. I know that you’re still upset over what happened, Gipsy’s ending and what happened to the Becket brothers is a tragedy. The bigger piece is a piece of her chestplate that came loose during the attack, the white piece is a piece of Raleigh Becket’s drivesuit from where it sparked and burned. I’m hoping that this will remind you of two very important things: There are people now that look up to you as you once looked up to them and that even people who are considered heroes can be hurt.
> 
>      Stay Safe,
> 
>      Mako

Holding a piece of Gipsy in his hand suddenly reminds him of how angry he still is about Raleigh Becket abandoning the PPDC. It’s been nearly 6 months and Chuck still cannot understand how anyone could just abandon being a Ranger. He runs his fingers over the white paint on the drivesuit, Mako’s right. There are people who look up to him now and he should really be more aware of that. He remembers how he felt when he watched Yancy and Raleigh on the news and how when they grinned and answered questions after battles he felt like he was closer to them and he realizes maybe he should get himself out there. He’s seventeen, he can’t let Herc handle everything for him, he’s not a child anymore.

\---

It’s a few months after his birthday when he actually talks to the press, he’s on a bit of an adrenaline high from the battle so he knows he’s probably grinning stupidly as he tries to answer their questions. He answers a few questions about the battle and then is sort of surprised when one of the interviewers asks him if he’s seeing anyone. Maybe “And when do you suppose I’ve had time for that?” wasn’t the best answer to give.

Herc is laughing as he drags him back to the Shatterdome to get cleaned up and hit medical for an after battle checkup. “Better watch how you answer questions like that or they might declare it open season.”  He grins as the nurse checks Chuck’s reflexes and all of his joints. He’s not entirely sure what his dad means by that, it’s not like outside people get into the Shatterdome without an escort and all of the techs know better than to bother him.

He starts to understand what Herc means when he stops hiding in the Shatterdome after battles. He follows Herc and some of the techs out to the bar closest to the Shatterdome for a victory celebration and realizes within minutes that he’s getting way more attention than he wants from all these strangers.

They keep their distance for awhile, but when he heads to the bathroom he ends up accosted by two women who seem to be mid-argument. They have to be in their thirties and Chuck’s not really sure how to handle thirty-something women trying to shove their cleavage in his face. Is he supposed to be polite here? He’s pretty sure you’re not supposed to shove ladies away from you even if they’re being really inappropriate.

He’s not sure what kind of noise he makes when one of the women pinches his arse but he knows Herc noticed it because he’s walking over towards them now. He must look horrified because his dad looks thunderous. “Ladies, I think that’s enough. He’s a little young for you I think.” And now the ladies are trying to hang off Herc and that just makes everything weirder. He wonders if this is the exact definition of a Jaeger fly, these women don’t seem to care if it’s him or his dad that they get attention from and that’s way too weird for Chuck.

It’s something that keeps happening, there’s a two jaeger drop that goes well and when the four pilots go out to celebrate there’s a whole group of women that surround them. They don’t seem to care which pilot pays them attention as long as they get some from somewhere. Chuck does his best to ignore them, he can’t imagine being interested in anyone who thinks he’s interchangeable. There are other drops, other celebrations, and other men and women that try to get his attention and Chuck hates it. He hates every second of it.

It doesn’t help that his dad keeps stepping in and making him feel like a child who can’t be left alone. It just keeps happening. Herc somewhat subtly chases away four extremely handsy women in their twenties, six very drunk women somewhere in their thirties, two terrifyingly bold women in their forties, one delicate looking but insistent boy who looks barely fifteen, three overly aggressive men in their twenties and thirties, and one memorable and horrifying man who he actually knew from back when he went to basic for the Air Force who kept whispering dirty things in Chuck’s ear. Seriously, Chuck does not want to deal with any of this.

But he’s seventeen, close to eighteen really, and it’s not like he’s disinterested in the idea of sex and relationships. He just really wants more than a one night stand. His mother had always talked about love like it was one of the most important things in the world and it’s not like Chuck doesn’t know what it feels like. He’s gotten enough from Herc that he knows exactly what romantic love feels like. He’s got a head full of memories of his mother and how much Herc loved her. On top of that he’s got a head full of thoughts and interactions with Pentecost that aren’t his that are probably the second reason Herc never takes up any offers at the bars.

Maybe his dad has the right idea, keeping your interests inside the PPDC is probably a lot safer and more comfortable than dealing with civilians. Maybe he should pay more attention and see if there’s anyone worth talking to inside the Shatterdome instead of just hiding out in the labs and bothering the techs.

Flirting is really strange and awkward but apparently his looks and his flirting occasionally works. He ends up getting along great with a redhead in programming named Charlie, they end up bonding over their names and Chuck is seriously thinking of asking her on an actual official date one day while they’re out when Charlie ends up staring at a curly haired woman in front of them and then elbowing Chuck repeatedly in the side and asking him if he thinks she has a chance with her. Oh, so that’s just… never going to work there then, he laughs and tells her he really can’t tell and that she should go flirt with the woman and find out if she’s interested. Well, at least he gains a new friend there.

There’s a pair of pilots, twins, who stick around the Shatterdome for nearly a month. They’re blonde and attractive and viciously charming, Chuck is pretty sure that the male twin, Jaime, is flirting with him. So he flirts back, even though his sister is terrifying even when she smiles at him and he feels like she might stab him when he’s not looking. It doesn’t last long and Jaime is a little too cold-hearted anyway, he nearly knocks one of the jaeger techs off of the scaffolding where he’s working just because he’s in his way. Chuck can’t actually say he’s sad to see him go.

He hits his eighteenth birthday without a whole lot of drama, there’s the usual birthday wishes from the people he’s close to. Hermann, as always, insists that it gets acknowledged somehow. Even Mako manages a call from the academy to wish him well and let him know that she’s doing well. It’s hectic, the funds for the PPDC have been cut so that the PPDC can get a wall built around most of that pacific coast. It’s ridiculous, a giant wall around continents isn’t practical and the Kaiju are getting bigger and coming faster, a wall isn’t going to stop them. Herc joins Pentecost in meetings sometimes to argue with the higher ups about how much funding is needed to keep everything maintained and it doesn’t usually end well for the Jaeger program. There hasn’t been a new Jaeger since Striker.

It’s a few weeks after that when Chuck meets Kaylee. She’s cute, funny, and the best tech they’ve ever had on Striker’s crew. He likes how she talks to everyone very plainly and how she’s always willing to explain what she’s doing. It’s the first time he’s had the urge to flirt in months so he goes for it. Kaylee grins and blushes and shows him how to take apart most of Striker’s console and put it back together. She teases him over meals and nudges into his shoulder sometimes when she has something to say that she thinks is important. He finally gets his first kiss while he’s got grease smudged all over his arms and is grinning with success over helping install an update to one of Striker’s energy weapons. Kaylee nudges into him grinning and when he turns they’re so close that he can see all of her eyelashes. She grins impishly and kisses him on the tip of his nose. He can’t help but laugh, because he really does like her, and then his laugh is interrupted when she presses her lips against his. It’s good and warm and comfortable and they both end it grinning. It stays good for a couple of weeks, not a whole lot changes between them except for the kissing and how now sometimes Kaylee will reach for his hand. It doesn’t have the deep warmth of his dad’s memories of Mom and it’s not the hot burn of his Raleigh Becket related fantasies but it’s still nice.

It lasts a couple of months without really going anywhere else and Chuck is fine with that, he’s actually kind of glad to finally find proof that someone, anyone really, is interested in more than getting in his pants for a night honestly. Kaylee gets a little distant, and it suddenly feels awkward between them. Chuck doesn’t find out why until he’s in medical after a jaeger drop and he watches Kaylee nearly crash into Dr. Tam and blush and stutter out apologies.

They’re walking outside later when he asks her about it and she blushingly admits that she has feelings for the doctor. “Chuck, I care about you. You know that right? There’s nothing wrong here there’s just no… there’s just no spark. At least not for me, but I don’t think for you either.” Chuck finds himself reluctantly nodding in agreement, she’s right. It’s nice, but there’s no spark, no urge to do more. They end it and go back to a friendship without kissing. Chuck feels like break ups are supposed to hurt more, but when he finds out that Kaylee snagged Dr. Tam a few months later he’s nothing but happy for her.

Then there’s Ken. Ken is a brilliant programmer who comes through the Shatterdome to update the drift interfaces. He’s all smiles and delicate features and messy blue-black hair and sarcastic comebacks. Chuck likes him immediately and within the first day they’re snarking at each other over meals and Ken is making him laugh. Ken’s also a lot more forward than anyone else Chuck’s ever taken an interest in. He’s known him less than a week when Ken grins at him as he moves away from the screen he’s working on, pushes his purple tinted glasses up on top of his head, and presses Chuck into the wall for a kiss. Ken’s been pretty obviously flirtatious so Chuck can’t really say he’s surprised so he kisses back. They make it to dinner a little late and if Chuck’s lips are as red as Ken’s, what kept them is probably obvious to anyone who’s looking.

Chuck rubs at Max’s head as he sits down at the table, Max tucks himself under Chuck’s legs soon after Ken joins them at the table. That’s how it goes for the next couple of weeks, whenever Ken manages to get Chuck alone he’s pressing all those long limbs against him. He even ends up with a bruise on his hip from where Ken shoves him too hard into a countertop. Chuck doesn’t really mind the rough treatment, but it’s sort of weird that Max doesn’t like Ken at all. He even growls at him once when Ken follows Chuck back to his room to grab something. He figures out why a few days before Ken is meant to move along to the next Shatterdome. Ken follows Chuck back to his room and closes the door behind him, has him shoved against the wall within a minute and is holding him there with surprising strength, “I feel like you’ve been teasing me for weeks. You’re not going to deny me now that I have you behind a closed door are you?”

Chuck is a little lost, “What? What are you talking about?” Ken is leaving soon, he knows that. He’d thought this was just a bit of fun.

“I know you Rangers get around,” Ken says as he slides a hand down Chuck’s body “You’ve had your hands all over me for weeks, I know you want it.” He moves to cup Chuck’s cock through his pants. “C’mon, Chuck.”

Chuck doesn’t even know how to react. He doesn’t want this from Ken, not when he’s leaving and definitely not after what he just implied about Chuck and Rangers in general. He pushes Ken’s hand away, “No. I really don’t.”

Ken grabs his hand and pins him against the wall again and Chuck swears he hears a noise like a whine right outside of his room, “I think you do.”

He’s pretty sure the higher ups would be pissed if he actually hurt the PPDC’s genius programmer but Chuck is definitely thinking about it. Ken’s strong for such a slender guy, he’s pretty sure he’s going to have to hurt him to get out of this, “No.” He’s trying to break Ken’s hold when his door slams open to reveal his dad glaring in the doorway. Max is at his feet, hackles up and growling at Ken. He meet’s Dad’s eyes and then looks back to Ken, “Now get off me.”

Ken drops his wrists and walks out the door without looking back. He looks like he’s about to kick Max when he goes to nip at his legs, Chuck is pretty sure it’s only dad’s glare that’s preventing that from happening. “You okay, kid?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Nothing happened.” Chuck shakes himself a little and kneels down to rub at Max’s ears. Max tucks himself under Chuck’s chin wagging his tail. “Hey big guy.”

Herc snorts, “Good thing or I’d be in all sorts of trouble for breaking the new prize programmer.”

That’s so much like the thought Chuck just had that he has to ask, “What are you even doing over here anyway? I thought you were in the Jaeger bay.”

“Yeah well, something didn’t feel right so I came looking for you.” Dad gestures vaguely to his head. “And then I saw Max here whining outside your door and decided to go with my gut.”

Chuck stares up at his dad, he’s terrible at this. He doesn’t really know how to be thankful, not when it comes to Herc. His dad keeps having to save him from these people who treat Chuck like crap; people in bars and at parties and apparently even other people in the PPDC. Clearly Chuck should just focus on being a Ranger and stop looking for a relationship. He rubs along Max’s back as he tries to figure out what to say.

Dad just nods like he gets it, and that’s all there is to it. “C’mon kid, let’s go get dinner.” They walk to the canteen and eat without company for the first time in weeks. Kaylee waves from another table where she’s trying to get Simon to try something from her plate. He’s got friends here, he’s got Max, and he’s got his dad even when he doesn’t know what to do with him. He’ll be fine alone for awhile, until he actually gets to find that spark with someone.

After that he doesn’t try, he avoids the bars and doesn’t try to flirt with anyone else. It’s just Dad in his head and Max constantly trailing behind him every moment that he’s not in Striker. It’s more comfortable that way anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok ok, random ridiculous Author's notes. I find Mako really hard to write, so I hope her interactions with Chuck are coming out how I mean them too.  
> I teared up a little writing about Mako's gifts to Chuck.
> 
> The people Chuck ends up with here are:  
> Charlie Bradbury (of SPN) who wanders off to flirt with and try to win over Hermione Granger.  
> The twins are Cersei and Jaime Lannister (Game of Thrones) and maybe that Tech was Bran  
> Kaylee Frye (of Firefly) who just can't resist Dr. Simon Tam in the end but is oh so sweet.  
> Ken Ichijouji (Digimon 02) who is just a little evil genius because his messy hair and stupid glasses make him Kaiser era.
> 
> Because it's just more fun for me to use random characters and play around with it. So I hope you enjoyed the newest chapter!
> 
> April 2015 update - Do not worry friends. Another chapter is coming. My harddrive died and I had to start over and sadly am a slow writer. But soon!


	6. Try to save the world

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> kaijus and Christmas and moving to Hong Kong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so SO Sorry this chapter took forever. I had it halfway written and my harddrive died and then it took me forever to get back into the swing of thing. I was going to go through the whole movie in one chapter, but it took so much buildup to get there, the movie is going to actually be the next chapter instead.  
> I hope those of you who have stuck around enjoy. I will try my best not to make you wait so long for the rest. This chapter is unbetaed, all errors are my own.

Chuck is nineteen and he doesn’t really have time for a social life. He doesn’t really want one, doesn’t have it in him to appreciate more than what he has now, and doesn’t really have the time for it anyway. He’s got a couple of friends scattered around the world that check in with him every once in awhile, he does his best to answer those emails at least.

There are no new Jaegers, Striker was the last one finished before the UN decided that a giant wall could protect people better than the PPDC. Mako was extremely disappointed when she realized that her entire graduating class would go into J-Tech or J-Science because they had no other choice. The Jaegers and their pilots are dropping and she’s desperately spending all of her time trying to figure out how to get more Jaegers into rotation. It’s not going well.

The Kaiju are coming faster and getting bigger and harder to beat. He’s gotten bruised up, fractured a couple of bones, had at least one concussion, and dislocated his arm and a couple of fingers. It’s starting to feel like he gets called back into battle just as he’s recovered from the last one. And if Hermann is right, then they’re just going to keep coming closer together. It’s actually while he’s reading and recovering from a couple of pulled muscles and two bruised ribs that he finally gets a call from Mako for the first time in months.

Chuck is settled in his bunk with a book when he gets the vidcall. “Mako!”

“I did it!” The call is terribly staticy and jumping slightly. Chuck swears that the Kaiju have done more damage to communications than they have done almost anywhere else.

“Did what?”

She’s grinning impossibly huge, he’s not sure he’s ever seen her smile like that. “I made them give me a Jaeger!”

Chuck sits up too fast and jars his bruised ribs. “What?!? How? I thought they were refusing to build anymore!”

Mako makes a face before going back to smiling, smaller this time. “They are still refusing to make new ones, I’ve convinced them to give me an old one. I have my choice of whichever Jaeger I want from Oblivion Bay and I’ll be allowed to restore and redesign it.”

Chuck stares at Mako on the screen for a moment, “Most of the newer Jaegers aren’t more than scrap metal after what they went through. You know what one you’re going to pull?”

She stares him down for a minute, biting her lip, “I was think I’d go for Gipsy. I need to double check her designs against the other ones that are in good shape and might be eligible for restoration but… I think Gipsy.”

Chuck can’t help but glance over to his shelf where there’s a small box with two bits of metal and a piece of bone in it. “Yeah. She deserves to get back out there.”

Mako is smiling soft and happy when he turns back to the screen, “That’s the plan. How are you after your last deployment? You weren’t moving right when I saw you on TV.”

He settles back into his bunk, “I’m fine. Bruised up, couple pulled muscles, nothing serious. Hermann doesn’t expect another Kaiju for a bit yet, so I should have some down time.” The conversation devolves into catchup until Mako has to get back to work, but at least he’s left in a better mood than usual.

He gets his downtime, reads and recovers for awhile, even gets dragged into a poker game by Tony, Steve and Kaylee once Striker is all fixed up. It’s quiet around the Sydney Shatterdome ever since the funding started to get cut back. There are enough techs to handle Striker but there aren’t many left doing research. The J-Science teams are still working and looking into other ways to beat the Kaiju but not many of them are based in Sydney.

So it’s playing with max, meals with the techs, the occasional card game, and actually listening to the doctors for a few months until they next get called out. There’s an attack up north at St. Lawrence Island that ends with Coyote Tango just barely managing to drag the Kaiju down with them before she and her Rangers are destroyed. He’s caught in an interview afterwards and can’t help but snark at the press, he’s so sick of these same questions over and over again. He’s done being nice in interviews.

\---

Chuck is 20 and it feels like his bruises have bruises. The attacks are getting closer together and the Jaegers are  starting to fall, the PPDC has lost too many Rangers and their Jaegers. The UN refuses to fund more Jaegers and the only reason they still have people working on weapons improvement is because the Kaiju are getting bigger and they haven’t found any ideas that work better. Mako sends updates about her restoration of Gipsy, but it’s taking longer than she thought it would. None of the Jaegers in Oblivion Bay were in great shape and with all of the funding going to the wall instead she really doesn’t have as many people as she wants on her project.

The Coastal Wall is getting closer to completion and he picks up enough from Herc in the drift to know that Pentecost’s conversations with the UN are not going well. They think the wall will be enough to keep people safe and they’re going to stick to that because it’s easier than keeping the PPDC going. The whole Shatterdome is worried, they know they’re being phased out even when they shouldn’t be, the Coastal Wall isn’t going to hold up against a rampaging Kaiju and everyone left in the Shatterdome knows it.

By the time Chuck’s 21st birthday comes around, the Kaiju are barely appearing a month apart. He’s exhausted and the PPDC is down to four Jaegers and their teams. On top of that the PPDC has an official end date, they’ve only got a few months of funding left from the UN and then they’re being completely shut down. Herc was in the meeting with Pentecost when they told him and, at this point, Chuck can’t tell if he’s the one who’s angry or if it’s bleeding over the drift.

A week before the Anchorage Shatterdome is scheduled to shut down Striker is a part of a two Jaeger drop in Malaysia and they lose Mammoth Apostle. They’re down to just three Jaegers and no funding and Chuck just wants to scream at everyone. He can tell there’s a plan, he can tell that his old man knows more than he’s saying, but he has to wait until Pentecost is ready to let other people in on it.

In October he gets an email from Mako that says she’s moved to the Hong Kong Shatterdome and that she took Gipsy with her because she’s almost ready. Sydney is one of the few Shatterdomes that still has an active Jaeger, so it will be one of the last Shatterdomes to close, he won’t see Mako until they move to Hong Kong in December but it does make him feel a little better to know that they might be back up to four Jaegers before they try to go through with whatever crazy last stand they’re making.

He’s fighting Kaiju and recovering just enough to say goodbye to most of the scientists. Hermann is one of the only ones who is sticking around and he pops into medical one day while Dr. Tam is checking out a bruised rib and some healing stitches to tell him that he’s packed up and heading to Hong Kong ahead of everyone else so he can setup his lab. Apparently he’s going to be sharing the space with Newt and he wants to get there in time to setup some very strict ground rules.

Hermann frowns as he enters the medbay, “You and your father better take care of yourselves for the next two months. Best make it to Hong Kong in one piece.”

“Yeah, Yeah. We’ll do our best.” Dr. Tam snorts and Chuck sticks his tongue out at him, “I’ll even sort of listen to the good doctor.”

“That’ll be the day.” Dr. Tam turns to Hermann, “Don’t worry, we’re sticking here until the end just in case, and if Chuck gets too terrible I’ll just sick Kaylee on him.”

Chuck just rolls his eyes at them both and stands up, “I see how it is. C’mon Hermann, I’ll help you get your stuff to the transport.”

He waves off Dr. Tam as he reminds him not to strain his ribs moving things and helps Hermann get his stuff together. It’s weird having the Shatterdome so quiet. They’re almost down to just the “essential personnel” which is basically just enough J-Tech to keep Striker moving after a battle, Dr. Tam, and a couple of nurses for injuries. Everyone else has already been sent home.

\---

December is surprisingly quiet, almost like they’re getting a bit of a break for Christmas, even if it is the quietest Christmas Chuck can remember since Herc started dragging him around the world when he joined the PPDC. The Techs who are left are sorting through spare parts and machinery, figuring out what’s worth taking with them to Hong Kong and what they might as well leave behind.

It’s a few days before Christmas when Herc finds him up on one of the walkways idly scratching at Max and looking over the mostly empty Shatterdome. Tony and Kaylee are singing Christmas carols at each other while they box equipment, going back and forth trying to sing the most ridiculous holiday music they can think of while Steve laughs, but Chuck just doesn’t have it in him to join them. He knows that something is coming, and from the look on Herc’s face he’s about to find out what it is.

Herc settles down beside him with a sigh and rubs at his face. “I just talked to Stacker, it’s set. Once we’re shut down here the last of us are heading to Hong Kong and then we’re going after the breach one last time.”

Chuck almost wants to laugh, it comes out more like a snort, “Oh yeah? What’s going to be different this time?”

“Well the Kaidonovskys managed to get ahold of a nuke, so we’re going with a lot more firepower this time. Stacker’s got Dr. Gottlieb and Dr. Geiszler working together to insure a way for it to actually go through.” He reaches over to rub at Max’s belly “Here’s hoping we have enough time for them to figure something out.”

“So one last stand with the last remaining jaegers?”

“Yeah kid. You know what I always say, If you have a shot, you take it. We’ve gotta try while we can.” Herc scrubs at Max’s ears and gets up “C’mon we might as well go down and enjoy the holidays, might be our last chance to do it.”

Christmas is loud and boisterous even in their small group. Kaylee has somehow managed to get some flowers and rig up some decorations, Tony has managed to get ahold of some real food and they manage throw some on the barbie and have a bit of a Christmas feast.

After that it’s a few more days of packing everything away and getting it all ready to ship to Hong Kong. The day that Striker is officially decommissioned and the Shatterdome is considered closed, Tony appears in Chuck’s room with a bottle of whiskey, kisses him on the mouth once, and tells him to make sure to have a spectacular toast for his girl because he’s has to hop transport to China and he’s pretty sure his open whiskey can’t go with him.

This means that all the techs are gone and they’re down to a skeleton crew when the Breach opens and a new kaiju emerges heading straight for Sydney. They name it Mutavore and Chuck and Herc suit up to watch the feeds even though they’re not supposed to get involved anymore. He shares a glance with his dad while they watch Mutavore stop at the wall on the feed in the control room, they both know that the wall isn’t really going to hold.

And they’re right, the kaiju breaks through in less than an hour. They take Mutavore down as quickly as they can. Chuck actually worries about the drift at first because both of them are so angry. They’ve been decommissioned for this stupid wall, they’re leaving Australia again to go back to the one and only Shatterdome that’s been allowed to stay open. Their endgame plan is basically a suicide run where the few Rangers that are left will probably all be killed.

When the reporters shove mics in his face at the end and ask him about it he isn’t even thinking about what comes out of his mouth. All he can think about is how everyone but them, the Kaidonovskys, and the Wei triplets are gone or so messed up that they’ll never really live normal lives again. Chuck thinks he says something about incompetent pilots. They ask him if he’ll stay in Sydney and he rolls his eyes and tells them he’ll follow orders and leave like he’s supposed to.

Mutavore is their tenth kill, it’s a new record and Chuck is exhausted. He remembers when he used to get excited for the fights, excited to protect the world, now he’s just frustrated. Some part of the fight left him jammed in his drive suit until they get somewhere with more tools so he climbs up on Striker and adds the tenth mark himself as they ready her for transport to Hong Kong. The techs that are left have fixed up the basics and everything else is boxed up and ready to go.

It’s a ten hour flight so Chuck tries to sleep. He’s not exactly comfortable since he’s still in his drive suit and mostly dozes with Max lying across his lap, but he manages a few hours of sleep. He doesn’t really want to talk to Herc or any of the techs that are with them anyway, so he keeps to himself.

Kaylee has tears in her eyes when she hugs him after they land, tells him to come find her once he checks in and she’ll figure out the jams in his suit and get him out of it. Tony has tears in his eyes for a whole different reason when he gets a look as what shape Striker is in after their last fight. Steve swats at him when he snarks about it and promises Chuck that they care about him more than the jaeger. They gather together to follow Striker out to the main bay and Chuck can only sigh while he watches all of the techs swarm around to unpack everything. He just wants his bag so he can go find Kaylee and get out of his suit and into real clothes.

Herc’s just found their bags when suddenly Max is barking and that can only mean that Mako is coming, He hears Stacker welcoming them to Hong Kong and Chuck is about to go over and greet them when Herc is growling out a “Wait here.” And walking towards where Stacker and Mako are coming towards them with someone else trailing behind them. Chuck’s distracted for a minute ready to grin at Max and Mako’s enthusiastic reunion, he almost misses it when Herc greets the guy who came in with them. He doesn’t hear a name, but he knows that voice, knows who his Dad fought with in Manila six years ago. Raleigh Becket is back in a Shatterdome.

He barely registers it when Stacker explains the plan to Becket. He’s too tired for this, can’t quite process that they’ve actually hunted down Raleigh Becket. It makes an odd sort of sense since he know that Mako’s been restoring Gipsy, but the man hasn’t been in a Jaeger for years, hasn’t fought any of the more recent bigger, scarier, smarter kaiju coming out of the breach. He calls Max back as Herc follows Stacker out of the Jaeger Bay. Becket is staring at him and all he can do is glare and think about how desperate Stacker must be if this is the best he can do for backup. He grabs his pack, picks up Max’s leash and leaves in search of Kaylee. He needs to get out of this suit and take a nap before he snaps at the wrong person.


End file.
